This invention relates to surgical knife or scalpel blade extractors and removers, and particularly relate to that type of extractor which will enable the doctor to free the blade from the tang of a blade holder with a one-handed operation.
The blade removing tool of Grieshaber, U.S. Pat. No. 3,172,316 includes a handle having a pocket at one end with a pair of parallel extending flange prongs. Each prong has a raised lip. A scalpel blade holder holds the blade on the tang end of a handle.
The handle must be held by one hand while the blade removing tool is held in the other hand. The blade is inserted into the pocket and freed by an upward motion of the tool with respect to the blade much like the operation of reverse direction nail pulling prongs.
The Grieshaber tool requires concentration in inserting the blade into the narrow pocket and for springing the blade free of the tang of the blade holder. The removal operation can present a possible hazard if sufficient care is not taken to assure that the blade is safely handled once free of the tang. Moreover, as it is the upturned lip on each of the flat prongs which provides the ejection force on the rear or heel of a blade, the blade must be considerably inserted into the pocket. Any contamination on the blade comes into considerable contact with the blade removing tool, and repeated use of such tool without sterilization provides considerable surface area for contaminating the tang and even the handle portion of the blade holder from repeated use of the blade removing tool and thereby carrying contamination to new blades.
Montelius, U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,491, shows a surgical knife of a design suitable for use only with slot type blade holders. The expelling tool has a toe portion which engages a receiving slot in the handle for ejecting the blade. This structure requires a two handed operation as both the ejecting tool and the blade holder must be manipulated at the same time. Also, the ejecting tool comes in intimate contact with both the blade and the blade holder and in repeated use can pass on contamination.
Brimmer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,620 discloses a combination surgical blade dispenser and surgical blade remover. The surgical blade is of a more typical design and mounts on the tang of a blade holder. This blade is removed from the tang by inserting the blade and tang into an enclosure which has a blade removing foot having a pair of rectangular projecting ears. The rear edge of the blade must pass over the ears during a rearward movement of the blade holder to be inserted between the rear edge of the blade and the tang.
Once the rectantular ears are wedged between the rear of the blade and the tang the handle may be rotated to pry the end of the blade free from the tang and then pulled out of the enclosure leaving the blade behind.
While this removal structure allows for one hand operation, it does require a considerable degree of manipulation to be certain that the ears properly wedge under the blade sufficiently to pry the blade from the tang. This manipulation, of necessity, must be time consuming.
Gaskall et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,777 shows a scalpel blade remover and collector having a container with a sloping bottom and a rectangular aperture having a shoulder section. A blade holder, with the blade mounted onto the tang portion, is inserted through the aperture and then downwardly so that the tang rests upon the lower wall of the aperture. This springs the rear or heel of the blade upwardly as the shoulders displace that portion of the blade. The blade holder is removed rearwardly so that the upwardly displaced heel of the blade catches against a downwardly projecting lip which extends beyond the face of the container. This stops the movement of the blade and allows it to be deposited within the container once the blade holder is pulled free.
Magney, U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,162, shows a combination dispenser and disposal cartridge for a surgical blade. This cartridge includes a rectangular box having a rectangular aperture at one end. Removal of a used blade is accomplished inserting the blade carried by the tang blade holder through the aperture in the end of the wall until the tip of the blade is engaged between a downwardly projecting box and a rounded internal wall corner. This is a precise location which must be searched for in order to wedge the point of the blade to a precise location. The handle is then withdrawn rearwardly so that a projecting wedge member comes to wedge between the heel of the blade and the tang of the blade holder whereby the rear edge of the blade is stripped off of the tang by abutting against a shoulder keeping the blade within the box as the blade holder tang is removed through the aperture.
This operation requires precise placement of the blade and blade holder tang within the disposal cartridge and a precise placement to pry the blade free from the tang portion of the blade holder. A trial and error procedure would have to be practiced until the ejection of the blade from the tang is complete.
Thompson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,416, shows a scalpel blade extractor tool which is intended to be hand-held while the scalpel blade and blade holder is manipulated within the extractor. A tang carrying a scalpel blade including part of the handle connected to the tang must be inserted through an aperture well into the extractor. The bottom wall is cut away into a wedge shaped shoulder formation having vertical side shoulders and a horizontal bottom wall. A downwardly directed transverse wall is spaced rearwardly of the aperture.
The blade and holder are inserted into the aperture and then moved downwardly so that the heel of the blade is displaced upwardly by the shoulders. The blade holder is withdrawn rearwardly to cause the then upwardly extending heel portion of the blade to intercept the lower edge of the transverse wall which stops its motion and separates from the tang of the holder.
Eldridge et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,532, shows a surgical blade remover having a plurality of blade holder tang sized slots in a plate. A layer of adhesive material is positioned on the top surface of the plate. A blade is removed by dropping the tang of the blade holder into the slot and then pressing it downwardly so that the blade which projects sidewards beyond the tang is forced off of the tang and adhered to the top surface of the plate. The tangs may then be withdrawn from the slot leaving the blade adhered to the top plate. A raised rib position adjacent to the edge of a slot may be utilized as a pressure point for springing the heel of a blade off of a tang to assist blade removal. Otherwise the top surface of the plate is tapered to provide a deeper recess where the heel of the blade would normally rest allowing a pivoting of the tang of the blade holder away from the blade.
The Grieshaber and Montelius blade removing tools require an intricate manipulation by both hands of the doctor.
The Brimmer et al., Gaskell, Magney and Thompson blade extractors, while capable of being mounted to a surface so that a blade may be removed with one hand operation, require a manipulation of the blade and blade holder to a point where upon a rearward movement of the blade holder tang the blade is pried from the tang of the holder. The operation requires a certain amount of intricate and possibly time consuming manipulation to catch the rear or heel of the blade.
Eldridge, Jr., et al. show a surgical blade remover which is large and cumbersome as it has but a single use for each blade removing slot.
All of the prior art blade removers are complicated structures themselves, each having plural components, plural shoulders and requiring intricate manufacturing, forming and assembly. Such complicated structures with their various faces, shoulders, and crevices and lips are difficult to keep clean.
What is desired is a simple structure which is economical to manufacture and easy to keep clean which can be utilized to extract surgical and scalpel blades from a blade holder tang with a simple operation and without intricate manipulation.
An object of the present invention is to provide simple structure which is usable as a surgical blade removing tool.
Another object of this invention is to provide such a blade removing tool which can be mounted on a fixed surface and which will enable simple single hand operation for removing the surgical blade.
A further object is to provide such a blade removing tool which does not require intricate manipulation for blade removal.
An even further object of this invention is to provide such a blade removing tool which does not require the tang of the blade holder to come in contact with the blade removing tool.